An Intervention, Watford Palace - theatre review

Mike Bartlett's stark, too-slight two-hander spins around the possibility of intervening in other people’s lives or even countries
Curious bond: Rachael Stirling and John Hollingworth ©Alastair Muir
©Alastair Muir
Fiona Mountford24 April 2014

It's been quite a fortnight for Mike Bartlett. First his expansive "future history play", King Charles III, opened at the Almeida and now comes this stark, too-slight two-hander that spins around the possibility of intervening in other people's lives or even countries. As a friendship unravels, Britain embarks on another drawn-out war in the Middle East.

A programme note states that the two characters, A and B, can be played by actors of any age, gender or ethnicity. Maybe they can but in James Grieve’s production they come in the thirtysomething forms of Rachael Stirling and John Hollingworth, which adds a possibly unhelpful When-Harry-Met-Sally, can-men-and-women-be-friends air to proceedings. In a series of short scenes, loosely and unconvincingly framed as a vaudeville act, A (Stirling) apparently drinks too much and B hooks up with an apparently unsuitable unseen girlfriend. I say “apparently” because the pair are unreliable narrators, locked into a destructive relationship that, unhelpfully, we are never allowed to witness in its sunny phase.

Stirling is a full-throttle actress; the role of a vulnerable alcoholic — although the most articulate and, well, sober alcoholic the stage has seen in some time — sits awkwardly with her. Hollingworth supplies a calmer presence but it’s hard to see why the pair bother with each other.

Until May 3 (01923 225671, watfordpalacetheatre.co.uk)

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